The present invention relates to a device for displacing or breaking blockages that occur in plumbing systems or in any system employing pipes for the purpose of moving liquids and/or solids. The primary object of this invention is to provide a simple and effective means of applying fluid pressure to a blockage that might occur in a pipe.
A number of devices designed to remove blockages in drainpipes have been reported in the prior art. Miller, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,892 describes a device which is a y-shaped tube which is adapted to receive a hose which can deliver fluids under pressure to a plumbing system. This device is limited to directing pressure to blockages below the device. Canadian Pat. No. 482,593 to MacArthur is very similar to the Miller patent and provides for a device that applies pressure to a blockage below the described invention but does not provide for the application of pressure above the device. Holmes describes a device in U.S. Pat. No. 831,722, which provides for a hose being applied to a device in the side of the drainage pipe which also had a closure above the entrance way into the drainage pipe for the knocking down of blockages. Again, all blockages that are to be removed are located below the device mentioned in the application. There is no provision for pressure to be applied above the location where the claimed inventive device is attached to the plumbing systm. Strickland, in U.S. Pat. No. 798,713, describes an attachment at the lowest point of the U-shaped trap in a sink drainage system for directing a flow of water either to the right or to the left. This system involves usage of a pipe in the trap itself and it is not designed to attack blockages that may be located above the place where the pipe enters the plumbing system. This device is designed to apply a jet of water at the blockage to break the blockage into pieces rather than displace it from the position where it has formed. Schock, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,547, also describes the introduction of a wide tube into the trap of a sink for the purpose of knocking out blockages in the U-shape drainage trap. All of these devices suffer from the same defect in that they are not capable of being directed above the location of the invention. For the most part, they are concerned with knocking out blockages in the U-shape drain in sink traps and it is not clear how they would perform if the blockage was located some distance from the U-shaped trap.